When a nation edges toward decline, it often makes critical missteps along the way. America’s growing hostility toward international students is precisely such a misstep—one with potentially grave consequences.
Trump’s Assault on International Students
Trump’s campaign against Harvard University shows no signs of letting up. Earlier, he demanded that Harvard halt admissions of international students, prompting the university to secure a temporary restraining order from a local court. Undeterred, Trump then threatened to divert $3 billion in federal funding originally allocated to Harvard to vocational schools, accusing Harvard of rampant anti-Semitism. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt went further, claiming America needs more electricians and plumbers—not graduates from Harvard’s so-called “LGBTQ programs.”
But the crackdown doesn’t stop there. The Trump administration is tightening visa requirements for international students across the board, mandating social media scrutiny to detect any anti-Semitic views. At the same time, US embassies and consulates have been ordered to suspend all visa interviews for students and exchange scholars.
Lesson from Chinese history: Li Si’s Timeless Warning
This aggressive stance against Harvard and international students calls to mind Li Si’s famous “Admonition to Expel Guests” from China’s Warring States period. Li Si, originally from Chu, became a guest minister in Qin. Near the end of the Warring States era, Emperor Ying Zheng of Qin uncovered a plot mapped by the Han state — the “Tiring Qin Plan”—which involved sending Han hydraulic engineer Zheng Guo to Qin to propose building the Guanzhong Canal, a project that drained Qin’s resources. Amid objections and voices from royal relatives and ministers, Emperor Zheng issued an order to expel all guest ministers from the six other states.
Li Si was among those targeted, but he penned the “Admonition to Expel Guests,” urging the Emperor to embrace talent regardless of origin, arguing that a ruler’s magnanimity was essential for national strength. Moved by the memorial, Emperor Zheng revoked the expulsion order, recalled Li Si, and restored his position. Later, Li Si became a key strategist, formulating the plan to “destroy the feudal lords, establish the imperial enterprise, and unify the world,” ultimately founding China’s first centralized empire.
The Power of Embracing Global Talent
This episode underscores a timeless truth: attracting talent from across the world is often the foundation of a strong nation. Over the past century, America’s rise was fueled by its openness to international students and immigrants. During World War II, as Nazi Germany persecuted Jews, prominent scientists like Einstein fled to the US, directly contributing to major technological breakthroughs—including the atomic bomb.
Einstein’s close friend, physicist Leo Szilard, had noticed in early 1939 a groundbreaking discovery published in the journal Nature by German scientists Otto Hahn and others, revealing uranium’s nuclear fission. Szilard drafted a letter, signed by Einstein, to President Roosevelt, warning that splitting uranium atoms could release enormous energy, potentially used to create a new kind of bomb.
Einstein described the bomb’s devastating potential: if a ship carrying uranium bombs detonated in a harbor, it could obliterate the entire port and surrounding area. Though he doubted the bomb’s weight would allow aerial delivery at the time, he warned that Germany’s control over Czech uranium mines and halted uranium sales suggested they were developing such weapons. Roosevelt heeded Einstein’s warning, and six years later, the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II.
This direct cause-and-effect story illustrates the stakes: had Germany not persecuted its Jewish scientists, had America not welcomed talents like Einstein and Szilard, or had Germany developed and used the atomic bomb first against London and Paris, history would have been dramatically rewritten. America’s national destiny is deeply tied to its ability to attract global talent.
Today, no one is writing an “Admonition to Expel Guests” for America — and even if they did, Trump likely wouldn’t listen.
A Strategic Opportunity for Mainland China and Hong Kong
This moment presents a golden opportunity for both Mainland China and Hong Kong to attract talent. Before the 2019 pandemic, China hosted 500,000 foreign students, mostly enrolled in Chinese language programs. The pandemic caused a mass exodus, and numbers have yet to recover fully. With China’s growing strength, it should establish numerous international departments at top universities to attract the world’s brightest minds.
Hong Kong, too, can seize this chance to draw global talent originally aiming for US universities. With a declining birthrate, the SAR government recently raised the quota for foreign students in local universities from 20% to 40%—a welcome policy. If Hong Kong can attract a large influx of international talent, it could elevate its development to a new level.
Lo Wing-hung
Bastille Commentary
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
In today’s world, if you’re bold enough to spin a grand narrative, there will always be those willing to buy into it. The idea that Hong Kong has become nothing more than the “ruins of an international financial centre” is a prime example of such myth-making.
Western Narratives vs. Hong Kong’s Reality
Let’s rewind to late 2023. After the pandemic, Hong Kong’s economy, having briefly rebounded, began to lose steam. The stock market languished. At that time, online chatter claimed that Hong Kong had already lost its status as Asia’s premier financial hub to Singapore as early as March. The phrase “Hong Kong is now just the ruins of an international financial centre” spread like wildfire online, quickly picked up and amplified by Western media outlets eager to reinforce their preferred narrative.
IPO Boom and Global Rankings
Yet, reality has a way of catching up with fiction. Just last week, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) – the world’s largest battery maker – listed in Hong Kong, raising a staggering HK$35.7 billion. This single listing propelled the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s (HKEX) IPO fundraising for 2025 to over HK$60 billion, far outstripping last year’s numbers. With this, HKEX reclaimed its position as the world’s leading fundraising venue, delivering a sharp rebuke to those who so confidently declared Hong Kong’s demise.
According to data from Wind, as of May 21, 2025, HKEX’s 2025 IPO fundraising stood at US$8.42 billion. For comparison, the Nasdaq raised US$6.62 billion, while the New York Stock Exchange managed US$4.87 billion in the same period. Hong Kong is back at the top of the global fundraising league, thanks largely to a wave of major Mainland Chinese firms choosing to list here. Singapore, often held up as Hong Kong’s supposed replacement, has seen just one IPO this year, raising a modest US$140 million. In all of 2024, the Singapore Exchange hosted only four IPOs, raising a paltry US$34.4 million – barely a rounding error compared to Hong Kong’s haul.
Some might dismiss this as a temporary blip. But the evidence suggests otherwise. The IPO pipeline in Hong Kong is set to surge. Many heavyweight A-share companies are accelerating their plans to list here, including Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food, Seres Group, and Sichuan Biokin Pharmaceuticals. They’ve already filed applications with HKEX, lining up for their turn. All signs point to a blockbuster year for Hong Kong IPOs.
Looking at the bigger picture, Wind’s statistics show that over the past decade, Hong Kong’s IPO fundraising has been anything but lacklustre. Buoyed by the relentless growth of China’s economy and its tech giants, industry leaders have flocked to list in the city. From 2014 to 2024, HKEX’s cumulative IPO fundraising reached US$304.7 billion – the highest in the world. In the same period, after excluding Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), the New York Stock Exchange raised US$290.2 billion, Nasdaq US$276.6 billion, and the London Stock Exchange US$59.2 billion – all trailing behind Hong Kong.
Of course, it’s true that Hong Kong’s IPO market cooled in 2022 and 2023. Fundraising volumes dropped sharply, a result of both the Mainland and Hong Kong economies feeling the pinch from pandemic border closures and the US flooding its markets with liquidity and fiscal stimulus. This fuelled a bull run in US stocks, drawing capital away from Hong Kong. It was in this context that the “financial centre ruins” narrative took root – a mix of market realities and the frustration of some foreign investors over Hong Kong’s COVID policies, which led some to relocate executives to Singapore.
Market Recovery and Policy Support
Nevertheless, perspective is everything. Since the fourth quarter of last year, Hong Kong’s stock market has come roaring back to life. In the first half of last year, daily turnover averaged HK$110.4 billion. Then, after Beijing rolled out measures in May to support Hong Kong’s financial markets, followed by comprehensive market rescue policies in September and explicit support for both the stock and property markets, daily turnover surged to HK$171.5 billion in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of this year, it climbed even higher to HK$242.7 billion.
A dynamic market is a powerful fundraising platform for listed companies. Take March for example: BYD raised HK$43.4 billion through a share placement – the second largest in Hong Kong’s history. Xiaomi, in the same month, raised HK$41.3 billion. Just these two deals alone amounted to US$10.8 billion, underscoring Hong Kong’s vital role in helping companies expand through capital raising.
Just over a year ago, critics were quick to write Hong Kong off as the “ruins of an international financial centre.” Today, HKEX stands atop the world as the leading fundraising market. The speed of this reversal exposes just how hollow those earlier claims were.
Hong Kong’s Strategic Future
Looking ahead, Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre—operating under “one country, two systems” and serving as China’s window to the world—is only becoming more crucial amid intensifying US-China geopolitical rivalry. With the Trump administration threatening to force Chinese companies to delist from US exchanges, Hong Kong’s importance as a global fundraising hub is more pronounced than ever.
Hong Kong should set ambitious goals: expand and strengthen its stock market, and aim for daily turnover to surpass HK$1 trillion within the next decade. That’s how Hong Kong can cement its place as a true super international financial centre. The city remains a land of opportunity.
Lo Wing-hung
